Anorexia
by xinsanitypersonifiedx
Summary: Hermionie can't believe it when people start suggesting that she's gaining weight. What will this do to her future! Who will come to her aid when she turns to the most extreme and dangerous level of weight loss.Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Queen Pumpkin Pie**

Hermionie stood in the huge bathroom that was just for the Head Girl, meaning her. She had been so excited when she had found out that she had been chosen for Head Girl. Everyone around her had told her that it was blatantly obvious who it was going to be, but she had still been overwhelmed with joy when she had gotten her badge in the mail. Today was her first day back at Hogwarts and she still hadn't heard who was going to be Head Boy with her. She secretly hoped that it was going to be Harry, but that might have been just because she was holding a grudge against Ron at the moment.

She had stayed with them over the summer and Ron had increasingly been getting on her last nerve. He seemed determined to tease her about every last thing she did and never let her have any alone time. She didn't understand this change in Ron, she used to like him, as in like like him, but he started acting so different, she just didn't understand it. Harry never seemed to want to talk about Ron's weird behavior, but still, he tried to talk to him about it.

The huge tiles that were imbedded in the floor had tiny blue intricate designs on them that almost made her dizzy. She sighed in relaxed joy and began to fill the pool that was sunk into the floor with warm steamy water. She twisted all the taps on, except the last one labeled **lavender scent**. She hated the smell of lavender, and her mother had given her a bottle of that perfume for her 17th birthday. It had made her eyes water and it had irritated her skin for days. The pool filled extremely quickly and she was surprised to see bubbles the size of her head. She laughed and popped one experimentally. It exploded and left water and soap running down the nearest mirror.

Determined to stop thinking about Ron, she stripped off her clothes and slid gently into the water. The foam from all the soap soon enveloped her in a silky cloud and she closed her eyes, treading water.

Hermionie awoke suddenly when another bubble popped loudly in her face. She was surprised that she had managed to stay afloat and she thought it might have had something to do with the massive amount of foam and soap that layered the pool. She glanced up sharply at the shell shaped clock on the wall behind her. She hoped she hadn't missed any of her Head Girl duties, especially since it was her first day and all. With a sigh of relief she noted that it had only been 20 or so minutes.

An oddly shaped red bubble went floating passed her and she was reminded of Ron and his stupid hair. Thinking about her eventful summer she remembered one day in particular when Ron had actually made her cry. He had been quite horrified of course, but Hermionie had enjoyed the shocked look on his face when he saw her tearful reaction.

"_Ron!" _

_Harry had yelled, astonished at his cruel joke. He knew that Ron was only flirting with Hermionie, but this time he had gone way to far. There was one thing that you didn't joke about with a girl, and that was weight._

"_I…but, Hermionie, wait"! _

_Ron, stood, flabbergasted as Hermionie took off down the hall, sobbing and going into hysterics. He turned, confused, to his best friend who was shaking his head in disgust._

"_You don't say that to a girl man."_

"_It was just a joke, I don't even know why she took offense."_

"_Can't you see that you've been driving her over the edge these past few days? I think this was the last straw."_

"_Oh my god, all I said was that the bathroom scale kept muttering obscenities at me and maybe it had gone through some major abuse."_

"_Ron, that was her scale"!_

Hermionie was finishing up her bath and rinsing out the shampoo residue from her hair. She was remembering how thoughtless and cruel Ron had been treating her and the full length, talking mirror was raising its eyebrows at the vigorous way she was scrubbing her hair. With a sigh, Hermionie dove under the water for the last time before rising, her hair streaming, from the pool. The whole room had been filled with steam and most of the mirrors were fogged up except the magical one. Hermionie didn't know that it was magical, that is, she didn't know until it started talking to her.

She was standing in front of it, turning this way and that as girls tend to do, when suddenly, it spoke.

"Did you have a nice bath, sugar plump?"

Hermionie stared at the face near the top that she had just assumed was decoration with an open mouth. She was to stunned to notice the subtle insult directed towards her and she tried to form words, but her mind was still in its relaxed state and just as foggy as the other mirrors.

"A bit on the slow side are we? Not much of a thinker? I'm surprised that they made you Head Girl, my little cherub."

By this time Hermionie was furious. No one had insulted her intelligence in a long time and it irritated her to no end.

"To your information, Mrs. Two Dimensional, I'm at the top of my class in all my studies. You don't know me at all." The mirror smirked, which was odd, for a mirror.

"Well, dearie, I might be only 2 dimensional, but you, Queen Pumpkin Pie, are the reason they had to make a 3rd Dimension"!

Hermionie was horrified. Two people had hinted that she was, dare she even say it…fat! She looked down at her stomach and noticed a bit of pudge that she hadn't seen before. She turned pale. This would be her downfall. She knew how the world worked. She would never get an ounce of respect for her brilliance if she were overweight.

She squeaked, her eyes blurry, and dashed around the corner, grabbing her clothes blindly. As she pulled on the skirt she had bought over the summer, she noticed how tight it felt and gasped in terror. She had bought it because Ginny had advised her to show off her long legs a little. It was nothing too short, but Hermionie had felt cute in it and had decided to wear it to school. Now, aghast with the thought of her weight, the thought of showing of her chubby legs was appalling.

Her hair still drenched and her clothes getting wetter by the minute, Hermionie tried to walk with some sort of dignity passed the mirror, but it laughed at her and she ended up running out of the bathroom, all pretense of nonchalance gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

**The 3rd Disturbance**

Hermionie was on patrol after everyone had gone to bed. She had spent the rest of the evening in her room going through her wardrobe and throwing everything that might even be the slightest bit form fitting. Why would she want anyone to notice her sagging stomach and cow like legs? She was now dressed in sweat pants and a baggy t-shirt. Her hair was even frizzier than it usually was because she had just let it air dry after her shower, not really caring what she looked like. One could say that she was going through a period of emotional and hormonal instability, but it happens every month anyways.

She wandered past the stairway that led to the dungeons. Feeling dark and gloomy, she decided that maybe it wouldn't hurt to patrol down there. Maybe she would find something to cheer her up, but the prospects didn't look good.

She sighed and let her hand fall limply on the railing as she descended in a slowly, slightly graceful manner. Hermionie looked up and noticed a hallway that she just knew hadn't been there before.

_Sigh, maybe I am losing my mind, maybe after all this walking I might lose some of this pudgy weight that I seem to be carrying around._

But, her curiosity was sparked and it felt good to feel something brighter than her depressing state. She looked around curiously, but she didn't see anyone, so she took a step in the direction of the mysterious passageway. Looking around she felt as if something was odd, strange, different even about this hall. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but if she was drawn to it so, there might be straying students down here and that was what she was supposed to be doing. She was patrolling for students, not exploring. Never exploring on the job.

As she walked further and further down the cool and somewhat brightly lit dungeon corridor, she finally figured out what it was about this hall that bothered her.

There were no picture, or even empty frames

There were no side passageways or doors.

Hermionie was rather befuddled by this new corridor, but she was curious, and kept walking, determined to find either a dead end, or a side door. For a moment she was afraid of how long this would take her, because she was only allowed to patrol until 1am, but she was also allowed to go to bed after 11:30. It was already 12:30 by the time on her new watch that Ginny had gotten her as a birthday gift. If she was going to walk all the way back, which was her plan of action if nothing interesting turned up, she might have to start now.

She was just about to turn around when she noticed a faint glow from a little way down in the shadow. She squinted and lifted the lantern that she had been holding lifelessly at her side. Suddenly the glow grew larger and Hermionie was sure that whatever, or whoever it was, it was headed towards her. Her first notion was to panic and run, but she decided that she wanted to start acting like Hermionie, Head Girl, again. She held her lantern up a little higher and said, with a vaguely trembling voice,

"Who goes there?"

She didn't get an answer, but she realized that this was a student. The figure was too small to be any of the teachers, except perhaps Mrs. Sprout. The details were starting to be less blurry and she held her breath, without realizing it, in anticipation. She was sure it was a student now.

"Answer me, who are you?"

"I think the question is, who are you, and what are you doing here during the night?"

Hermionie was taken aback, and lifted her lantern to see the speakers face. It was Draco Malfoy, and he looked just as shocked as she did.

"Malfoy" Hermionie spat contemptuously.

"Granger" Draco returned in the same manner. He hadn't been expecting to see her face this late at night. It was almost scary. Hermionie glared at him and he looked back with malice. She spoke, trying to keep her cool during their staring contest and to unnerve him at the same time.

"I'm Head Girl, I'm supposed to be out, but apparently, you aren't. I will have you reported immediately and Dumbledore might not forgive you this time."

She sneered at him, and it was a good one, almost to rival his own, but he had better things to worry about.

"You, you are Head Girl! Well, I should have known, but, apparently, you haven't heard the good news."

He twisted his angelic features in ugly grin and unclipped something from his shirtfront. Lifting the glinting object into the light Hermionie drew in breath sharply in surprise and shock.

"I, for your information, am Head Boy."

"How could you be Head Boy? You're hardly an example to the other students! You're just Snape's pet."

Hermionie snarled, whirling out her wand in unison with him. Draco backed away slightly to get his bearings, and boy was he furious. How could a smelly little mudblood insult him, an heir to the thrown of the imperious Malfoy Manor? He began to run through the list of curses that he had been preparing for over the summer and chose one that was a personal favorite of his. He had done it to the neighbor for walking on their lawn last month; to bad he'd been a muggle. His father had a hard time working that one out, and Draco had gotten a sound beating from it, but it satisfied him. As he was working out his thoughts, his mind wasn't as sharp at 1am as it was during the day; Hermionie lifted her wand and yelled,

"Accio Wand!"

His wand flew to her and hit her palm with a disgusting smack. His jaw dropped and he snarled horribly. He looked her up and down and tried to think, his mind was growing bitter at him and the only thing he knew to do was to insult her. He knew just what would do the trick too. It was every girl's weakness.

"Nice clothes you've got on Granger," He'd noticed her grunge clothes. "At least the cover you up, though I'm surprised to see that they actually do."

Hermionie stop what she was doing, startled.

"Do, what?"

"Cover you up that is."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Dreadful Morning**

Hermionie was in shock. She had just been trying to convince herself to forget about what Ron and the Mirror had said, and here comes another person, telling her that she is overweight. It doesn't matter that they've been enemies since the first year, the fact that he saw her weight as something to insult her by told her that it was something noticeable.

She was so angry, yet so broken down. She tried to think of how she should curse his, but all that escaped her mouth were her attempts at stifling the sobs that were wrecking through her body. Horrified at what she was about to do, and knowing that he would tease her throughout eternity, Hermionie chucked his wand back at him and dashed off down the hallway. She half expected him to chase after her, but when she didn't hear any footsteps other than her own, she was able to completely resist the urge to look back at that miserable little ferret, just leaning against the wall jauntily, as if he cared about no one.

If she had taken a closer look at Draco she would have noticed an open mouth and a look of shock. He had never expected her to react so, and though he hated himself for admitting it, Hermionie wasn't overweight at all. In fact, he thought grudgingly, she had a nice body. It had thinned out over the summer and, he thought with gritted teeth, she had great curves. He sighed, and began to walk in the direction opposite of Hermionie. He just _had_ to figure out what was at the end of this corridor.

It took her a long time to get back to the Gryfindor common room, but she was able to make it without breaking anything or waking the whole castle. She barely murmured the password, but the pink lady let her in otherwise. Hermionie collapsed in one of the armchairs in a corner of the room and tried to hold back her sobs. She wished that she could just think clearly about the whole situation and act like Hermionie again. She wanted to go to the Library, but that had to wait until tomorrow.

She started to breath more regularly and her head grew calm. She took a deep breath and sighed. She needed to take this seriously. Crying wasn't going to improve the situation. Come to think of it, she had been over reacting today. Maybe she was gaining weight, but that just meant that she needed to watch what she ate. That was the way muggles did it, or at least tried to do it. They always seemed to be failing. Her neighbor was always trying to watch her weight, but Hermionie had never seen any improvement. Her neighbor still had a job didn't she, so even if Hermionie was big, its not like she would be a bum on the streets. She was still an excellent witch and Harry would never let that happen to her.

Sufficiently soothed, Hermionie walked into the girl's dorm with her head held high. She put on her pajamas and attempted to get into bed, but she was hindered by the mass of clothes that was everywhere. Trying not to think about why she had put them there in the first place she whispered a tidy up spell and the flew neatly back into her suitcase. Hermionie crawled back into bed and pulled the blankets up over her. She tried to forget all that had occurred today.

Hermionie woke before everyone else, as always. She pulled on a layered blouse and grabbed up a pair of her jeans from last year. They had always been comfortable and she needed comfort if she was going to get through today. There was a nice piece of embroidery on the seat of the pants, a swan in fact, and sequins on the very bottom. They fit, rather snugly around her legs, but she gasped when she tried to button them at the top. They were last year's, yeah, but they had fit loosely then, didn't they?

She panicked and threw off the jeans. She grabbed a pair of slacks that she had bought over the summer and put them on quickly, hoping that none of the girls had noticed. She tried to breath slowly. There was nothing to worry about. She just wouldn't eat so much at meals. She had probably gotten into the habit of gorging herself at the Weasley's.

_Stupid Ron…_

Plastering a smile to her face she grabbed up her bag and made her way to the bathroom. Her hair was a complete mess from not doing anything with it yesterday. She doused her hair with water until it was sopping, yet manageable. With the swift skill that comes only from practice, she ran a brush through her hair and pulled it all back and up into a French Twist which she secured with a silver clip that matched the embroidery that was on the jacket she had pulled on after her shirt.

After washing her face, she applied a tad bit of makeup and brushed her teeth. She walked back to the dorm and found her shoes, which she had forgotten to put on before she left. She glanced down at her watch and realized that she was 10 minutes early for the time when she met Harry and Ron in the common room.

She sat in an armchair and selected a book from her school bag. She settled back into the chair and tried not to worry. It was hard not to care what people thought of her, but Hermionie did want to stay healthy. Yanking and twisting a strand of hair that framed her face, she tried to concentrate on her book, but found that impossible. The room around her was filling slowly with groggy students just waking up. She scanned for signs of flaming red hair and only noticed Ginny who was attempting to fight her way through the crowd to get to her.

"Hey Ginny"

Hermionie said with a somewhat tense tone to her voice. Ginny looked at her oddly, but was too tired to mention it. She plopped down on the arm of the chair next to Hermionie and ran a hand through her hair. From the looks of it, she had just woken up and grabbed some clothes blindly. She had on one of Ron's old Chudley Canons t-shirts and a pair of jeans with a purple sparkle belt. Hermionie raised an eyebrow at this, but also chose not to say anything. The two girls were silent, but Ginny suddenly jumped up when she saw Harry making his way towards them.

"Harry! Good Morning."

Ginny was suddenly awake and quite chipper. Hermionie was stunned, as was Harry it seemed, but he just grinned at her and Hermionie.

"Morning guys, Ron said he wanted to sleep through breakfast."

Hermionie sniffed haughtily which got her glances from both of her friends. Harry shook his head slightly at Ginny who had given him a questioning look. Ginny sighed and stood up to start making her way towards the portrait. Hermionie didn't follow Harry as he walked after Ginny. She was staring at the swan embroidered on the seat of the pants that Ginny was wearing.

Suddenly she stood up and ran after Ginny. She grabbed her hand and said, her voice oddly squeaky,

"Ginny! Why are you wearing my jeans?"

"What? Oh, these, well I saw you try them on this morning and figured if you couldn't fit in them, maybe I could. They fit great!"

Hermionie almost cried again, but held herself together as the three made their way downstairs in awkward silence. As they sat down at the table Hermionie pushed her plate away and stared down at her hands.

"I'm not hungry."


End file.
